“I’m Too Old to Start an Online Business”
This is a common, and understandable, comment I hear and certainly see frequently on various blogs.
There are at least three good reasons to not let your age prevent you from having your own online source of independent income.
1. You’ll Live Longer Than You Think
Thanks to a few decades of relentless improvement in medical research and technologies many people today underestimate how long they can be expected to live.
Also, the math involved in the calculations is not intuitive. For example, according to the US Social Security Administration, here’s how long the average person who is 60 years old can expect to live:
Male: 21.6 years
Female: 24.6 years
But when these people turn 70, look at how many years they still have left, on average:
Male: 14.4 years
Female: 16.6 years
And these are averages – half of people live longer than these estimates!
So a person who is 60 today can realistically expect to live into his or her eighties.
I don’t want to point out (again) the existential vulnerability of all the grossly underfunded public and private pension schemes that people are hoping will sustain them for those decades, so suffice it to say that the time to build a new reliable source of income to fund all of those years is right now.
2. You Have Time + Experience
This is the most potent combination in life.
The fact is – and I say this as a guy who is 60 – most of us have so much experience and knowledge that we take most of it for granted. We forget that most people don’t have what we have.
I’m constantly amazed when I speak with clients who have decades of experience doing work that most of us know basically nothing about and how they just don’t realize how valuable the information they carry around all day is to other people.
Although there are many very solid business models to choose from, one of the easiest and fastest to get cash flowing is using your knowledge and experiences to consult or coach people who need your expertise and are very happy to pay for it.
So if you’re finally at this point in life – use it!
3. Challenging Work is Important
The older we get, the more important it is to be involved in something challenging and engaging.
Any quick search on Google will discover scores of studies showing the value of doing new things later in life. And when those things also bring meaning and satisfaction they are doubly beneficial.
By the way, that’s part of the reason I created this business. It’s very enjoyable to me and it’s great to be appreciated for helping people.
The same can happen for you. Starting an online business is an opportunity to learn many new things. Not one of them is as hard as learning calculus or Mandarin, but every challenge has proven solutions and you can learn and adopt them in a step by step way that provides its own motivation.
The Takeaway
For goodness sake don’t believe you are too old to make your retirement wonderful by using additional income you generate and completely control. You’ve got many good years left and you have an opportunity right in front of you to capitalize on your years of work and learning, and to do it in a way that can be very rewarding.
At the very least, you owe it to yourself to spend a half-hour discussing your knowledge and experience with someone willing to help you get started in a direction that is exciting to you.
